Nicola will get picked up. She's an amazing rider. Randall will too. Tino IMO, dropped off in his prime for one reason or another. I love his style though and he's a super cool dude so hopefully he finds a home too. I'd imagine there's only a few brands to choose from though bc even if offered a contract by liquid, or any other Kent brands the sour taste is probably still going to be there. I'd like to see them all on ronix.

I heard back in January already that the Ronix products were selling amazingly well. They don't seem to be affected by all this patent nonsense. Hope it makes them even bigger. Competition is healthy. It stops companies from being complacent and treating their customers like cr@p.

That's why airlines can afford to treat you so badly. You gonna drive 2000 miles in an afternoon??

I heard Vandall was going Byerly, but that was months ago, and last weekend he still had a Company board in the rack. I'm guessing it didn't go through, or is taking longer than expected. IMO he's a good fit for the Byerly team. He's an OG, just like Byerly himself, and adding Randall would create a diverse team by adding the go-huge west coast style.

Chris Probably does know what is going on with Nicola.. Hands down ... But sometimes you just cant leak that stuff.... Besides... She is one of the best female riders in the world... She will get pick up soon if she already hasn't...

While @ Wake Games last weekend, I tried catching a glimpse of what Nicola was riding but couldn't catch it so not sure what the deal is. But I hope this whole S**t business is moving forward rather than bogging everyone down like it has been for the past 8 months or so. It IS gettin' pretty rediculous with all the "speculation" that's been goin' on.

While @ Wake Games last weekend, I tried catching a glimpse of what Nicola was riding but couldn't catch it so not sure what the deal is. But I hope this whole S**t business is moving forward rather than bogging everyone down like it has been for the past 8 months or so. It IS gettin' pretty rediculous with all the "speculation" that's been goin' on.

You guys may be able to tell what board it is by the shape; this is what she was riding @ Wake Games.

You are probably right, Dave...but, if LF was sponsoring her, I'm sure the graphics would not have been painted over. Perhaps they plan to, but haven't inked the deal yet?!? What kind of bindings are those?

As far as Justin goes, in spite of the problems he was facing, he did everything he could to find homes for his team riders. Huge respect and admiration for that, as self preservation is normally peoples number one priority when the roof is caving in. I don't think anybody involved with Company is going to willingly "slap him in the face" so to speak.

I never had a chance to ride in their gear but heard nothing but good things about it. It is definitely another sign of how tough of a racket this industry is to break into. They had vets running the show over there, had decent riders, a cool and solid upcoming brand, but couldn't get it to work for one reason or another. I am sure some of it was internal, but you can bet that competing against the giants had something to do with it as well.

"The last 4-5 years for me has been life changing. These 4-5 years didn't roll out exactly the way I originally intended, however in the end they actually turned out for the better. These years brought me my time with @companywake, and @remotewkskates ... Two of my largest accomplishments of my career. The reason why though is because of the people that came together for these brands...Inside and out. There were a lot of people that gained, broke even, and lost because they rolled the dice with me on these projects / brands. And regardless of how things rolled out, these people collectively are my heroes. Due to conditions outside of my/our control, we had to officially wind things down with @companywake in March this year. However @remotewkskates continues to operate under the direction of Silas Thurman & Ben Horan, and are in better hands than ever before. I fought hard for @companywake. Harder than anything I have ever fought for. Having unfinished business/vision for the brand has been hard. Pretty much lost everything. Here's the things though, I believe we made a dent, and the people involved in @companywake will continue to innovate in their own ways. You will continue to see the effects of the vision and hustle through these people, but just in different ways. I really believe that. These people have inspired me to keep my head up. To push forward. To stay close to my passions. So to everyone out there reading this, who loved and supported @companywake ... I thank you. You have all changed me, inspired me, and made me better... #grateful. Whats next? Good question I will def keep you all posted as making things right and moving forward is #onthebrainconstantly #FF Round 2: @remotewkskates @SlingshotWake @Logosz1 @Ronix. Thank you all for listening to me rant tonight. Have a great weekend. #loveyouall."

True class, in my books. We need more people in wakeboarding like Justin Stephens. Hell, the world needs more people like Justin Stephens.

Loved Company Wake's products from day one and began repping for them when WakeWorld posted that they were looking for help. Thank you Justin for your putting trust in some random guy from Canada. It was a lot of fun working with you and the rest of the Co. crew. All the best in your future endeavors.

just wondering but is gator in this too? their website has their 2011 boards up but there is noway to purchase them

Don't think Gator got hit
the-house.com caries a good supply of Gator
i love the looks and style of Gator boots for some reason.

speaking of boots and moving back to Company. i thought thier hardware connection was one of the most innovative things to hit boots in a while. they truly were the best at preventing the most amount of heel lift of the boot itself (based on a hands-on test at a boat show). also the way they allowed the boot to be placed almost anywhere was neat too. only way to have made them better i think was to make the teeth in the tracks durable for life. metal and or larger teeth. hopefully someone can make hardware just as effective. Co. was on to something with that one IMO

I got an official press release about 2 months ago that Company was closing up shop. I wish that I could have posted it, in fact I did, then I have Mr. Williams immedialty remove my post as I decided it was not my place to blow the whistle on Company. I feel super bad for the team and Justin. Good Luck to all those involved.

Reading through this thread, the history of wakeboarding from various articles, and hearing comments from people in the industry, I can never again bring myself to support anything under the Kent umbrella. (Hyperlite, CWB, Byerly, Liquid Force, Obrien, etc) Their strong arm tactics are hardly unique in the business world, yet it seems different in the close knit industry of wakeboarding. These types of moves hinder creativity and ingenuity, both short term and long term.

Hopefully the team that ran Company can land on their feet. Unfortunately, another Kent alternative is gone...

You're so cool. We all wish we could be like Andy. Shut up and go ride

That's great that you think I am cool, I think I am pretty cool. And if you want to be like me you just need to eat right, work out and wakeboard a lot. Thanks for the kind words. Your a true class act. And for what its worth I have been riding all day, since My last post in this thread, ahh modern technology you can blog from you boat! How Neat. Keep it up Mojo some day you will be as cool as me.

It also appears we will get more details about what happened. More from Justin's Twitter feed:

"Working on a personal statement to kick out to everyone about @companywake's status. This is something that I have tried to do multiple times, but have not been at liberty to do for technical / legal reasons. So instead of it coming from the business, it will come from me personally... #workingonitnow"

And for what it's worth Andy, I thought your post came across as a little "cool guy" as well. Lives2Wake would have had the same info as you and me, but it didn't come across as Mr Know-it-All. Just my $0.02

I would like to personally thank everyone who supported Company. I know I personally worked extremely hard to get Company to where it was, and Justin worked 100 times harder. We had a great crew of people that I was extremely blessed to be able to work with. Unfortunately like Justin said we had a lot of ideas for innovation that never got to surface. We worked hard to make the best product possible for THE RIDERS. Thank you again for everyone who supported us or had kind words for the work we put in. It means a lot to all of us.

It
And for what it's worth Andy, I thought your post came across as a little "cool guy" as well. Lives2Wake would have had the same info as you and me, but it didn't come across as Mr Know-it-All. Just my $0.02

good lord stop bitching people, I dont think there was anything wrong with Andy's post at all

Anyways, yea this whole saga leaves a bad taste in the mouth, Company was ramping up to launch some killer products this season and it literally is a crime that they were not able to get the product out due to BS lawsuits, patent infringements my ass...

good luck to all the Company crew, hope we see some more innovation from them wherever they choose to go from here.

Where is Tony Finn? Where is Liquid Force? Are they not going to defend themselves? Are they really the evil empire? Everything I read points to... "Yes!" I am not buying or supporting anything from that company or the parent company if all of the allegations are true and if they don't have the decency to step up and state why they did what they did.

Where is Tony Finn? Where is Liquid Force? Are they not going to defend themselves? Are they really the evil empire? Everything I read points to... "Yes!" I am not buying or supporting anything from that company or the parent company if all of the allegations are true and if they don't have the decency to step up and state why they did what they did.

or rather why they went about it the way they did to specify the question to get better results than... "we (they) have a right to protect intellectual property" or something to that extent

I am actually quite surprised at how different each brand is under the Kent umbrella. its like a king who has allowed his several sons to rule individual parts of his land the way they want (and one son is particularly prideful) ... or an apple tree that produces multiple colors and flavors of apples. kinda impressive but kinda odd. i don't understand the details and politics of it all though.

or rather why they went about it the way they did to specify the question to get better results than... "we (they) have a right to protect intellectual property" or something to that extent

I am actually quite surprised at how different each brand is under the Kent umbrella. its like a king who has allowed his several sons to rule individual parts of his land the way they want (and one son is particularly prideful) ... or an apple tree that produces multiple colors and flavors of apples. kinda impressive but kinda odd. i don't understand the details and politics of it all though.

but like you i tend to shy away from it too

there are plenty of businesses, organizations and corporations that run that way. All report in general to one body, but they are free to go about their business as they see fit so long as it doesn't jeopardize any of the other "units". Some are called SBU's, some are called totally different companies.

This is business. Patents get upheld, and anyone with a patent has the right to make sure it is not infringed upon, and if it is, then they can seek damages. This is the daily world in most industries, you file patents and you make sure the product you're designing does not infringe upon current or pending patents. Patents also pressure for further technological advancement, because you're supposed to design around a patent, not outright copy it. Hence the major increase in non-CC Flight Control Tower type towers, they do not fall under CC's tower patent.